Top Online Casinos for Real Money

Here are the best online casinos that can be played for real money. All of these casinos have strong track records, fair games, great promotions and top-level customer service. You will enjoy playing at any of the following top-ranked online casinos - now you simply have to choose which one of them matches your needs the best.

How I Ranked These Online Casino Sites

I started by looking at the biggest problems surrounding online casinos (US casinos especially) ever since the UIGEA passed in 2006: fast payouts (or rather the lack of them). In order to pass from the first test to get on this list, an online casino has to deliver player cashouts in two weeks or less. I spent hours upon hours on forums reading about player experiences, and truth to be told, it was difficult to gather a list of real-money casinos with a solid track record for fast payouts.

But "difficult" was not going to stop me and I got it done.

The subsequent rounds of testing were about ranking these casinos in order, and the most important factor I looked at was customer service. I wanted to know the response times, helpfulness and general atmosphere of each casino's customer service department. Having friendly and helpful people at your service not only improves the online casino experience but is also important when there are unexpected problems (more likely to happen in the US).

As mentioned, this was an important factor and for a reason: while most online casino sites had live chat options - which means you can be in contact with them essentially rightaway - those who prefer to communicate via e-mail are going to have to wait anywhere from 30 minutes to a few days to get an answer. And of course there were big differences between the quality of live chat support too (from unreliable chat software to unhelpful responses by the customer support personnel).

The third critical aspect of an online casino is its playability (including compatibility):

The basic version of the software must be top-quality. No glitches, bugs, or anything of the sort. We want a good playing experience while risking our hard-earned money, and an online casino that fails to acknowledge this neither deserves our time nor money.

The software must be playable within the browser. It's important because not everyone wants to download casino software to their hard drive (I'm one of them) and, perhaps more importantly, Mac users need a software they can play. I can accept not having a browser-based software in case there's a downloadable software specifically for Mac users (otherwise Mac users have to go through too much trouble to play at the casino), but otherwise it's quite a problem if an online casino pays no attention to a significant percentage of the US population.

The software must be available for mobile. This is becoming more and more important since mobile device screens are getting bigger and companies get more specs in the devices, so you can do more with them. This is also one of the most neglected areas (as you can see from my page about top-ranked mobile casinos) since casino sites either lack mobile-compatible software altogether or its quality is horrible.

If you can move money around fast, you're served well and the playing experience is great, it's safe to say you're dealing with a good, professional online casino site. But I wanted to separate the great casinos from the good so I dug deeper.

I looked at deposit options (and fees), payback percentages, welcome bonuses and other promotions, game selection and jackpot sizes. Again, there were clear differences between top US online casinos and the top-3 ranked USA casino websites on top of this page are the ones that I consider clearly ahead of the others.

Real Money Casino Sites - FAQ

Yes - playing at real-money online casinos in the US is legal on a federal level (although some individual states may have prohibited it). I've written a separate section for US casinos which gets more in-depth about the legality issues, although it can be summed up easily: there's no single answer for this question and it depends on your local state laws.

All the casinos listed on this site have a strong track record and are as secure as any other casino - they operate on a reputable network, have been licensed and tested by reputable testing agencies, have fair payout percentages and process deposits and withdrawals fast. Plus, they've got a great reputation at online casino forums (I follow online forums daily).

Most US online casinos only accept credit, debit and gift card deposits (VISA is the most widely accepted brand, but it seems that Mastercard deposits go through more often). Certain US online casinos accept money transfer deposits as well.

Players outside of the US have a plethora of options such as credit cards, Neteller, Skrill (Moneybookers), electronic checks, online bank transfers, etc. If you live outside of the US, depositing money to internet casinos will be easy, instant and free at all of the real-money casino sites listed on this page.

Yes, but since neither App Store nor Google Play accepts real-money gambling apps, online casino games are available through your mobile device's browser as so called "no-download," "in-browser" or "browser-based" software.

I've written more about the best mobile casino sites but the key differences to playing on non-mobile devices are less functions and less games. Mobile software needs to be lighter and that usually shows in the amount of features and games. Still, online casinos want you to be able to enjoy real-money mobile casino games so they try to have all the most popular games available (along with some games exclusively for mobile).

If you want to avoid things like travelling to a casino, tipping the dealer and playing slower games, online casino games may be well-suited for you.

The only costs you may run into are deposit and withdrawal fees - but many casinos are willing to cover even those if you only make one withdrawal per month. Online casino games run faster, you can play from the comforts of your home, and it's much easier to find internet casinos with acceptable house edge.

You might argue that getting comps is a benefit at live casinos, however, on the other hand, online casinos give you deposit bonuses and all sorts of other promotions that are unavailable at live casinos. If you're happy playing without the atmosphere of a live casino, internet casinos are likely the way to go.